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Amgen
buying Woburn company
Banker
and Tradesman
The biotechnology company Amgen Inc. is bolstering its late-stage drug pipeline by buying the privately held cancer drug maker BioVex Group, of Woburn, Mass., in a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion.
Submit to DiggdiggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis BioVex’s drug candidate, OncoVex, is based on a virus that attacks cancer cells, destroying tumors and stimulating the immune system to fight cancer throughout the body.
Amgen’s net income rose 10 percent in the fourth quarter on better sales of anti-infection drugs and reduced taxes, the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company said yesterday.
Amgen earned $1.02 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended in December, up from $931 million, or 92 cents per share. Excluding one-time costs, Amgen posted a profit of $1.17 per share.
Revenue edged up 1 percent to $3.84 billion, from $3.81 billion.
Analysts expected a profit of $1.10 per share and $3.81 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Separately, Amgen said it expects the acquisition of BioVex to close in the first quarter. It agreed to pay $425 million at closing and another $575 million if BioVex’s products reach regulatory and sales milestones.
OncoVex is in late-stage testing as a treatment for metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. BioVex is also running an early stage clinical trial of the genital herpes vaccine ImmunoVex.
Sales of Amgen’s drugs Neulasta and Neupogen, which are used to prevent infections in chemotherapy patients, rose 3 percent to $1.24 billion. The increase came mostly from higher prices.
Changes in inventories by wholesalers also aided its revenue, and tax credits boosted Amgen’s quarterly results.
Sales of Amgen’s anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen continued to slide, declining a combined 9 percent to $1.22 billion because of lower demand, primarily for Epogen. Sales of the two drugs have dropped in recent years because of safety warnings and tighter restrictions on their use. Amgen reported $28 million in sales of its newest drug, denosumab.
The drug is approved under the name Prolia as a treatment for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, and it is sold as Xgeva for the prevention of bone fractures in patients with advanced cancer. Amgen said Prolia sales totaled $20 million and Xgeva sales reached $8 million.
Investors hope new
products will reinvigorate Amgen’s sales and help make up for declining
Aranesp and Epogen revenue.
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